April 2026: Productivity Integration
The RetroDECK Team have been hard at work stirring the development cauldron.
Highlights
News
- Development Update: 0.11.0
- New Component: LibreOffice
- Productivity Integration
- 1990s Office Gaming Compatibility
- Epic Office Races (1995)
Development Update: 0.11.0
We have begun development on the upcoming major update, 0.11.0.
This release is currently in active early development, with the team adding new features, improvements and several unexpected things.
New Component: LibreOffice
Version 0.11.0 introduces a new modular component: LibreOffice.
Productivity Integration
RetroDECK includes basic productivity support through integrated LibreOffice, enabling users to open and edit standard document formats directly within the environment.
Users can switch between gaming and document workflows by exiting a game and launching documents via the ES-DE interface.
This has been one of the most common user complaints: when booting into RetroDECK, it hasn’t been possible to do other work at the same time!
With this new integration, that limitation is gone.
You can take a break, play an arcade game, then seamlessly return to your office tasks. Launching your quarterly budget spreadsheet or presentation directly from the same frontend where you game.
We are extremely excited about this feature.
Document directory:
Put the documents into:
retrodeck/roms/office
It supports all major Microsoft Office and LibreOffice document types.
Configurator
LibreOffice can also be launched from the RetroDECK Configurator alongside other components.
1990s Office Gaming Compatibility
RetroDECK will also support legacy spreadsheet-based games created in the 1990s. Built in Excel using macros, clipart and complex logic systems by some madman in accounting.
These files are compatible via LibreOffice, allowing users to run and explore classic “Excel games” within RetroDECK.
Example: Epic Office Races (1995)
Epic Office Races (1995) is a classic spreadsheet-based game built in Excel, known being highly moddable. Tracks can be extended by editing cells in what ever shape you want.
Players can introduce dynamic clipart elements as obstacles like:
- Roadwork
- Traffic
- Law enforcement
- Old people driving the car ahead of you
Try to experiment for unique gameplay scenarios. Why not a dinosaur or a huge chicken nugget in the middle of the track?
The title is often cited in community discussions as an early conceptual precursor to user-generated racing games like ModNation Racers for the PS3.
That is all for now
There are more features and improvements in the works, which will be shared in future blog updates!
As always, if you want to help with development, join the 💙-i-want-to-help channel on Discord, or reach out to us on Matrix or other socials.
A big thank you to everyone for your continued support 🦈.
// The RetroDECK Team
RetroDECK: Community Links
| Category | Link | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 🌐 Website | retrodeck.net | Official RetroDECK homepage |
| 💬 Discord | Join Discord | Discord community chat |
| 💬 Matrix | Matrix Room | Open Matrix community space |
| 💬 Lemmy | Lemmy Community | RetroDECK community on Lemmy |
| r/retrodeck | RetroDECK subreddit | |
| 📖 Wiki | RetroDECK Wiki | Official documentation and guides |
| ❤️ Donations | Donations & Licenses | Support the project and view license information |